Big Questions: The Ultimate Building Blocks of Matter

The Standard Model of particle physics treats quarks and leptons as having no size at all. Quarks are found inside protons and neutrons and the most familiar lepton is the electron. While the best measurements to date support that idea, there is circumstantial evidence that suggests that perhaps the these tiny particles might be composed of even smaller building blocks. This video explains this circumstantial evidence and introduces some very basic ideas of what those building blocks might be.

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[deejayandi]

As long as there are 2 or more building blocks that are different from each other, there must be smaller building blocks. What makes a top quark different than the bottom? There must be a mechanism, or ingredients within the quark that makes it a quark, and not a lepton. Simple logic. Unless one finds a way to negate this "hidden variable theory", one must assume that there are hidden ingredients.

[rursus]

Maybe it's not about smaller building blocks, but about fundamental excitation levels ... ?

[Soup_cant_play]

The ultimate building blocks of the Uninverse are legos.

[rhoadess]

Dr Lincoln's speech department in his brain must be cross connected to his arms, hands, and, fingers. I am willing to bet sign language would come natural to him.